1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to recording material feed cassettes provided with extendable/retractable cassette portions that can change the size of a containment space in accordance with the size of a recording material used, and to recording apparatuses provided with such recording material feed cassettes.
2. Related Art
There are many types of recording apparatuses, such as ink jet printers, laser printers, copiers, facsimile devices, that include removable recording material feed cassettes (also called “feed cassettes” hereinafter). Such a feed cassette holds multiple sheets of a recording material (also called “paper” hereinafter) in a stacked state and is used by being fitted into the main portion of the recording apparatus (also called a “main printer unit” hereinafter).
As disclosed in JP-A-2010-173832, such a feed cassette is divided into a first cassette portion and a second cassette portion, and the first cassette portion and second cassette portion are assembled so as to be capable of extending/retracting relative to each other, so that the size of a containment space can be changed in accordance with the size of the paper that is used. A locking mechanism that locks the first cassette portion and the second cassette portion in an unextendable/unretractable state is provided at a predetermined extension/retraction position.
The stated locking mechanism includes an operation portion and a lock rod. The direction in which the lock rod is moved in order to release the lock is the direction orthogonal to the extension/retraction direction of the feed cassette. The lock rod and the operation portion are integrated in an L shape, and when a user grips the operation portion, the force thereof is converted into a pivoting motion of the lock rod via a rotation shaft, which brings a lock retaining portion on the leading end of the lock rod away from the locked position.
The stated locking mechanism is configured so that when the operation portion is gripped, the lock rod that is integrated therewith is pivoted, thus moving the stated lock retaining portion in the direction that releases the lock.
However, there is a problem in that if the lock rod has a low rigidity, the lock rod itself will elastically deform, causing the pivoting of the lock rod to become unstable and reducing the reliability of the lock release.
In addition, the operation portion is moved rotationally around a rotation shaft rather than linearly, and thus the movement of the operation unit does not match the extension/retraction direction of the feed cassette. Accordingly, there is another problem in that there is a poor flow in the series of operations from the lock release operation to the extension/retraction operation of the feed cassette.